Three Reasons Why Striker Viktor Gyokers Will Shine In the Champions League for Arsenal 

Here's Nick Manfredi in praise of Viktor Gyokeres in anticipation of Arsenal's Champions League campaign 

It is no secret that Arsenal lacked serious firepower in front of goal last season.

That is what the signing of Viktor Gyokeres is hopefully going to address. We are all hoping the big Swede can be the difference between perennial also-rans and Champions.

But when we visualise Gyokeres holding silverware aloft in May, most of us are probably anticipating this silverware being the Premier League Title.

And why wouldn’t we be, given that it has been this side’s obsession for the past three years? 

1 - Fewer deep blocks Well, what about the Champions League? All summer we have been hearing narratives casting doubts over Gyokeres’ abilities to perform against the deep blocks often deployed in England.

The European game is often in a different ballpark in this regard. Despite Arsenal’s struggles in front of goal last season, the goals flowed for us in our run to the Champions League semi-finals.

We hit Gyokeres’ former employers, Sporting Lisbon for five on their own patch, we demolished PSV 7-1 (a record for an away knockout tie might I add) and most memorably, we taught a footballing lesson to the kings of Europe themselves, Real Madrid with five very high-quality goals over two legs.

I firmly believe part of this is down to higher defensive lines being deployed by foreign sides. And its also good news for Viktor Gyokeres who thrives when given space in behind.

Look at his first goal for the club against Leeds on Saturday, Leeds pushed up and pressed high in an effort to win back possession high up the pitch, which allowed Calafiori to play a ball over the top, into the left-hand channel where Gyokeres had found space, dribbled into the box and tucked home. Expect plenty more goals like that on the continent. 

2 - Physical prowess 

Another attribute Gyokeres can use to his advantage is his physical prowess. We have already seen how Gyokeres is capable of bulldozing his way through defenders with ease.

For a few years Arsenal have lacked that profile of centre forward, but we seem to have identified it again with Gyokeres. Whilst the Premier League is widely regarded as the most physical in the world, other European leagues tend to be more tactical than physical so perhaps we can exploit that with Gyokeres. You get the sense that it could’ve helped us a great deal in our semi final exit to PSG. 

3 - Fearless mentality 

Thirdly, Gyokeres brings that fearless mentality of constantly looking to improve, never being 100% happy with his performance and his constant thirst to prove his doubters wrong.

This is exactly the mentality you want your striker to have, especially in those huge ties in the latter stages of the competition where we aspire to be year in, year out. In 2024 we reached the quarter finals, and we went one better in 2025 as we reached the final four for the first time in 16 years.

If we are to continue this trajectory in Europe and go all the way to the final, having a centre forward who fears no one will serve us well. While we gave it everything, we had against PSG we lacked that fearless presence in the box, the kind of presence that strikes fear into defenders. Gyokeres will help Arsenal to bring the fear factor, rather than feeling it in ourselves.